South Australian WW1 Soldiers’ ‘Forget-Me-Not’ Pennies

Being interested in Australian history I collected Convict love tokens; coins that had been smoothed down and a message of farewell engraved on them. These were given by convicts to their loved ones immediately prior to their departure to Australia.

For me it was a natural progression to collect WWI Forget-Me-Not Pennies found in Adelaide antique shops. The parallels between the convict tokens and the pennies attracted them to me; farewell keepsakes given by soldiers to their loved ones prior to boarding a ship bound for the other side of the world. 

Forget‑Me‑Not Pennies
Forget‑me‑not pennies are base metal coins which have been hammered with letter and numeral punches to record a farewell message between two people. They were made a century ago when war was raging around much of the world. These pennies may be defined as trench art.

These humble pennies were given out by recently enlisted servicemen to their sweethearts, family members and friends shortly before embarkation on overseas service. Little is known about these hand‑made mementoes as they were unofficial; the few known pieces have all been found in South Australia. The writer has contacted the Army Museum of South Australia, and collectors of militaria, Australiana, and numismatica, but none have seen them. 

They were illegally made as they defaced the coin of the realm, and most likely made as foreignees (work done for private gain without an employer’s permission) in machine shops where letter and number stamps were readily available. The coins have been made by using British Victorian and Edwardian pennies and Australian George V pennies. During WWI there were more British than Australian bronze coins circulating in Australia as Australia only started to mint its own pennies in 1911.

The keepsakes were given by soldiers based in various barracks including Exhibition Camp in North Terrace Adelaide which apparently did not have facilities to make them. It is therefore considered that the forget‑me‑nots were made outside the camps and ordered by soldiers on a word of mouth basis. The Forget‑Me‑Not Pennies were highly sentimental and affordable (being made from a penny and relatively quick to stamp out) for the private on five shillings a day. We do not know why they ceased being produced.

Introduction Written by Peter Lane
Owner of WWI Forget-Me-Not Pennies
Forget-Me-Not Pennies was taken from an abstract titled South Australian WW1 Soldiers’ ‘Forget-Me-Not’ Pennies by Peter Lane from Journal of the Numismatic Association of Australia, Volume 25, 2014

 

Images:
Artlab Conservator: Renita Ryan, Principal Conservator Objects
1. Renita examined one of the coins/love tokens for fingerprints as any corrosion left unchecked, could etch the surface of the metal token causing irreparable damage.
2. The surface of a coin was degreased and cleaned with solvent.  This does not strip any patina, but removes fingerprints, soiling and particulates that may lead to corrosion.